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You should, by now, be very familiar to the Mentos and Coke explosion effect. After all, we’ve even shown how to make your own booby trap version. But did you know that parts of the science behind it were a mystery? Until now, that is. A physics team at Appalachian State University did a whole range of tests, varying the substance dropped in from Fruit Mentos to dishwasher detergent and checking all the Coke types. Serious science stuff.

By filming the resulting jets of foam, and doing some Scanning Electron Microscope analysis, they’ve ruled out chemical interactions, and have discovered it’s to do with the surface roughness of the Mentos, the sugariness of the drink and how quickly the mints sink.

These factors all affect formation of carbon-dioxide bubbles: the spikes on the Mentos aid micro-bubble formation (see mint ones on the SEM image on the left, fruit on the right); non-sugary Diet Coke works best as it’s got lower surface tension; and the dense Mentos sink quickly, creating bubbles at the base of the bottle that cause spontaneous formation of other bubbles higher up. All that results in very rapid bubble-formation, and that then causes the satisfying squirt of brown goo from the bottle neck.

So now you know: science is fun. [New Scientist]

Original post by Kit Eaton

Original post by AddyDugdale

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Giz reader Robert Woodhead combined two things that I just can’t seem to get sick of seeing: Stuffing Mentos into Diet Coke bottles and the super-slow-mo action of Casio’s EX-F1 camera to create this stunningly beautiful video.

Woodhead compensated for the 1200fps’ paltry 336×96 frame size by stitching four different Mentos tests together, and the results are awesome. Globs, ribbons and rings of Coke that are impossible to track in real time come to life when seen in slow-motion.

Watch out later today for another homemade slow-mo video; things will only get messier. [Robert Woodhead]

Original post by Benny Goldman

Filed under: Wearables

How anyone could think that a cloth vending machine would fool even the stupidest of criminals is beyond us, but we guess if the convertible skirt / vending machine is going to be made somewhere, it might as well be in Japan. The New York Times has the write-up of Aya Tsukioka clothing designs, intended to provide the vulnerable with ways of avoiding thieves and other evil folk: beyond the Coke machine, there’s a purse shaped like a manhole, and a child’s backpack that looks like a fire hydrant. Here, we just carry guns.

[Thanks, Ross M.]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Conrad Quilty-Harper

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Coca_Cola_readying_self_chilling_soft_drinks’;And you thought non-stick chewing gum was the heat. Turns out, Coca Cola may be plotting a new version of Sprite that actually chills itself upon opening. Apparently, the drink has to be kept at a specified temperature before being snapped up, and once the oh-so-thirsty consumer pops the top, “a mechanism inside creates ice made from the drink, so it is not diluted.” Reportedly, the beverage would sensibly be called Sprite Super Chilled, and if it does indeed hit the UK (and prove successful) by “early next year,” the technology could then be passed along to Coke, Diet Coke or even “super cold alcoholic drinks, particularly beers.”

[Via Tech Digest]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Darren Murph

When you need to keep just a little bit of Coke cool kool, thank the Powers That Be for the $95 Koolatron. Shaped like a giant can of Coca-Cola so you never forget what’s inside, the Koolatron can hold eight cans or two 2-liter bottles of your favorite beverage of choice. Plus, the Koolatron can heat as well, hitting temperatures up to 149°F. With adapters for the house and car, you’ll never need to leave home without a gigantic fake can of cola again.

Is it me, or does “Koolatron” sound like some Transformer pitch rotting on the floor of Hasbro’s marketing department? – Mark Wilson

Original post by ShoppingBlog.com

Straining to prove it’s “with it” to keep the youngsters slurping down high-fructose corn syrup loaded soda, Coca-Cola’s launching a mobile social network for teens.

The Sprite-branded, cellphone-only network (because Sprite’s more extreme? Why not just bring back Surge? Actually, please do—Vault sucks.) will let teenyboppers post profiles, pictures and hook up with other sugar-addled stalkers teens. Whatever happened to using polar bears to sell soda? – Matt Buchanan

Coca-Cola sets up mobile social network [Yahoo!/Reuters]
Image via Flickr

Original post by ShoppingBlog.com